Between 2008 and 2013, I wrote a bi-monthly column for Game Developer Magazine called Design of the Times (alternating with Soren Johnson – later, Jason VandenBerghe would join us). Before that magazine’s untimely disappearance, I received issues to reprint the articles here on my blog. They cover a wide range of issues and many of the concepts within are somewhat timeless design concepts, so I hope that students of game design continue to find them useful.
Note: the text I’ve pasted here are the versions I sent in, so there may be minor discrepancies between these and what appeared due to editing for length or other factors. And typos. I am not an editor, and greatly enjoyed having one while writing for GDMag.
- Life After Ship (Jan 2013)
- Breadth vs. Depth (Oct 2012)
- Scouting the Battlefield (June 2012)
- Random is Random (March 2012)
- Going Coop (Dec 2011)
- The Senior Designer Mindset (Nov 2011)
- Good Grief (Sept 2011)
- Sweet Vindication (July 2011)
- A Player’s Stories (April 2011)
- Narrative and Player Agency (Feb 2011)
- The Many Forms of Game Narrative (Jan 2011)
- Making Less Bad Bosses (Oct 2010)
- The Casual/Hardcore Continuum (Aug 2010)
- Win Expectancy (May 2010)
- Risk vs Reward (April 2010)
- How Realistic is Too Realistic? (Jan 2010)
- The Art of Fun (Nov 2009)
- Resonance (Sept 2009)
- Tactical Transparency (June 2009)
- Understanding Design Space (April 2009)
- Focusing Your Innovation (Feb 2009)
- Writing Better, Shorter System Docs (Dec 2008)
- Designing Choice (Oct 2008)
- Humor Me (Aug 2008)
- Idea Synthesis (May 2008)
Other Articles:
- Making Better Bosses (Game Developer Magazine, August 2001)
- The Challenges of Next Generation Guild Design (Escapist, Sept 2005)
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